Leadership Tips, Vol. 514

Learn from Mr. ETF. Self-branding? Consider how Cantor Fitzgerald’s Reggie Brown, known as “Mr. ETF” for being the force behind a $2.4 trillion market in exchange-traded funds, answers his phone. “What do you want, what do you need?” he asks.

At ease. Back when Adm. Mike Mullen was still chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Michael Bloomberg was still mayor of New York, Mullen changed from dress blues into a business suit for dinner at the mayor’s house. That’s because he knew his uniform in­­timidated some people. Is there anything about you that might put off your customers, employees or the public?

A dose of optimism. Jon Oringer, who founded Shutterstock in 2003 with 30,000 stock images that grew to more than 30 million, dreads public speaking. But even there, he cites two things in his favor: “Lots of people feel that way, and you can solve it if you work at it.”